Tweet tweet

Fearless Radio 4 Controller Mo Bakaya is cancelling the weekday editions of Tweet of The Day.

His arguments - it's apparently an important time to give Farming Today an extra 90 seconds; he couldn't afford to continue it without repeats; some of the saving allows new recordings for the surviving Sunday slot. 

Let's try some others. The show has been going since 6th May 2013; Twitter started in 2006, with Jack Dorsey explaining "We came across the word 'twitter', and it was just perfect. The definition was 'a short burst of inconsequential information', and 'chirps from birds'. And that's exactly what the product was...." 

Tweet of the Day was the idea of Julian Hector, running the radio end of the Natural History Unit. He'd started out as a sea-bird ecologist. He'd been stranded doing research work on Bird Island at the time of the invasion of South Georgia, with just a oil-drum of dried cabbage left; he was rescued by the Royal Navy. He recalled hearing a World Service programme featuring the tawny owl during his time in the South Atlantic, which propelled him to a safer life as a radio producer. 

There are currently 634 different species of bird in the UK. The first series found 166 of them, most recorded specially. The second series was named World Birds, using library and archive recordings; the third series featured less tweeting, and more presenter talk. 

You'd need 2836 birds to keep every weekday edition since 2013 different. The launch edition, with Sir David Attenborough on the cuckoo, has been out three times.  There are 743 editions available on BBC Sounds, but some are extended versions featuring the same birds.